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Lot Essay
The Bethlen Násfa
In the 16th and 17th násfa, or jeweled pendants, were among the most important jewels worn by the aristocracy. Typically given as wedding gifts, they were worn hanging from a chain, on the side of a high fur hat or used as a diadem. By tradition a gold násfa was worn by Gábor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania (1580-1629), at his 1626 marriage to Catherine of Brandenburg (d. 1644). Silver-gilt násfas were worn by their six pages. A matching gold násfa in the Dresden’s Green Vaults (Inv. No. VIII 288), suggests however, that two gold pendants were fashioned for the wedding, to be worn by the bride and groom for their wedding in Kassa.
The pair of gold pendants relate very closely to one another in decoration and scale. The cross, anchor and heart are symbols of faith, hope and love, and the bejwelled hands holding a heart were popular motif of wedding jewels of the late 16th and early 17th century. However, the Dresden násfa features white enamel typical of the bride; the present lot incorporates black enamel, appropriate for the groom.
Following the death of Prince Gábor Bethlen in 1629, Catherine of Brandenberg returned to Germany, where she married Francis Charles, Duke of Saxon-Lauenberg, in 1639 and died in 1644. Catherine presumably returned to Germany with the pendant, and its subsequent history prior entering the collection of Augustus the Strong is unknown. First inventoried in 1706, the násfa has remained in the Green Vaults Collection to the present day.
The present pendant, the násfa associated with Prince Gábor, was exhibited in 1884 at an exhibition of Historical Goldsmiths' work in Budapest along with four related silver-gilt examples. The gold násfa was loaned by Count Antal Zichy (1826-1898), a writer, politician, member of parliament, and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Science. By 1923, the pendant had been acquired from Graff von Palffy, a former Austrian Ambassador in Rome, by the Parisian dealer Arnold Seligmann who sold it to an American in whose family it has remained.
(See: Zoltan Szilárdfy, “The Wedding násfas of Gabor Bethlen”, Confessio 3, no. 2, 1980, pp. 35-39 for an discussion of the násfa’s iconography; see István Simonyi, “Questions and Answers: An Attempt at Defining the So-Called Bethlen-Násfa”, Ars Decorativa 24, 2006, pp. 21-37 for a study of the group of násfas)
In the 16th and 17th násfa, or jeweled pendants, were among the most important jewels worn by the aristocracy. Typically given as wedding gifts, they were worn hanging from a chain, on the side of a high fur hat or used as a diadem. By tradition a gold násfa was worn by Gábor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania (1580-1629), at his 1626 marriage to Catherine of Brandenburg (d. 1644). Silver-gilt násfas were worn by their six pages. A matching gold násfa in the Dresden’s Green Vaults (Inv. No. VIII 288), suggests however, that two gold pendants were fashioned for the wedding, to be worn by the bride and groom for their wedding in Kassa.
The pair of gold pendants relate very closely to one another in decoration and scale. The cross, anchor and heart are symbols of faith, hope and love, and the bejwelled hands holding a heart were popular motif of wedding jewels of the late 16th and early 17th century. However, the Dresden násfa features white enamel typical of the bride; the present lot incorporates black enamel, appropriate for the groom.
Following the death of Prince Gábor Bethlen in 1629, Catherine of Brandenberg returned to Germany, where she married Francis Charles, Duke of Saxon-Lauenberg, in 1639 and died in 1644. Catherine presumably returned to Germany with the pendant, and its subsequent history prior entering the collection of Augustus the Strong is unknown. First inventoried in 1706, the násfa has remained in the Green Vaults Collection to the present day.
The present pendant, the násfa associated with Prince Gábor, was exhibited in 1884 at an exhibition of Historical Goldsmiths' work in Budapest along with four related silver-gilt examples. The gold násfa was loaned by Count Antal Zichy (1826-1898), a writer, politician, member of parliament, and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Science. By 1923, the pendant had been acquired from Graff von Palffy, a former Austrian Ambassador in Rome, by the Parisian dealer Arnold Seligmann who sold it to an American in whose family it has remained.
(See: Zoltan Szilárdfy, “The Wedding násfas of Gabor Bethlen”, Confessio 3, no. 2, 1980, pp. 35-39 for an discussion of the násfa’s iconography; see István Simonyi, “Questions and Answers: An Attempt at Defining the So-Called Bethlen-Násfa”, Ars Decorativa 24, 2006, pp. 21-37 for a study of the group of násfas)